Civil War Veterans Buried In Washington State - Enoch Sanderlin

179^th OHIO VOLUNTEER INFANTRY
Organized: September, 1864 Camp Chase, Columbus, OH
Mustered In: September, 1864 Camp Chase, Columbus, OH
Mustered Out: 7/12/65 Nashville, TN

REGIMENTAL HISTORY:

  NOTE: In the spring of 1864 union General Ulysses S. Grant launched his Overland campaign southward into Virginia.  To fill the ranks of his armies with "seasoned troops" rear echelon units were called up from garrison and guard positions and placed into the field.  To fill the void created by these call-ups a number of short term regiments were formed.  The 179^th Ohio was one such regiment.

  The 179^th, a one year western theater unit, was organized in September, 1864. Following Federal muster it moved to Nashville, TN. Arriving there on October 2^nd, it was placed on duty at that post.  While there, it was present during the battle of Nashville Dec 15 to 16, 1864.  It remained on duty in that city until 7/12/65 when, with the war ended, it was mustered out in accordance with orders from the War Department.

  Regimental losses: Officers killed or mortally wounded = 0; Officers died of disease, accidents, etc. = 0; Enlisted men killed or mortally wounded = 0; enlisted men died of disease, accidents, etc. = 80.

SOLDIER:
Residence: Crestline, Sharon Township. Richland co., OH   Age: 24.11 yrs.
Enlisted/Enrolled: 9/3/64 Crestline, OH   Rank: Pvt.
Mustered In: 9/17 or 19/63 to date 9/3/64 Camp Chase, Columbus, OH
Mustered Out: 6/7/65 Columbus, OH
Discharged: 6/7/65 Columbus, OH
Highest Rank: Pvt. 

PERSONAL/FAMILY HISTORY:

  Enoch W. Sanderlin was born September 22, 1839 in Richland County, Ohio to parents Thomas Jefferson (b. OH) and Rebecca (nee Seaton b. 1813 VA - as per family - or OH) Sanderlin. The 1840 U.S. Census placed the Sanderlins in or near the Richland County community of Milton, so very likely it was there Enoch came into this world.

  1850. Another decade. Another census. The Sanderlin clan was still in Richland County, but at that time the community of residence was noted as being Jackson where Thomas was engaged in farming.  Of interest is the fact that Rebecca was no longer in the household. While her fate is not known, likely she had died.  Members of the household, in addition to Thomas, were listed as follows: Hanna/Hannah (b. 1830 PA), Catherine (b. 1835 OH), Sarah Isabelle/Isabel (b. 1837 OH), Enoch W. (b. 1839 OH), Elizabeth (b. 1844 OH), Frances Marion (b. 1846 OH) and Mary B. (b. 1849 OH). Based on the age of at least the youngest Sanderlin child noted herein, Mary, Hanna appears to have been her mother and Thomas' new, young wife by whom he would sire several additional children during the 1850s.

  Enoch's whereabouts are not documented in the 1860 census, but early the following year, on 2/27/61 in Crestline, Crawford County, OH he married one Sarah Vincent (b. June, 1836 OH).  The union would ultimately produce seven children, the names of only six are documented:  Sarah Isabell/Isabelle (b. 5/20/65 OH), Ellen (b. 1/23/67 OH), Amanda/"Manda" E. (b. 1869 OH), John Wilson (b. 3/2/70 OH), Rose/Rosa Alice (b. 4/20/72 OH), and Otto V. (b. 6/7/74 OH).

  On 9/3/64 in Crestline, where Enoch and Sarah had apparently set up household after their Marriage, 25 year old Enoch, just days shy of his 25^th birthday, enlisted in the U.S. Army for a period of one year.  Likely the enlistment for railroad worker Enoch, was at least partially prompted by receipt of an enlistment bonus or "bounty" amounting to $100 - a princely sum in that day and age.  At enlistment, Private Sanderlin's vital statistics were noted as being: Five feet seven inches tall, darkly complexioned with brown eyes and dark hair. Whether he knew it or not, he was leaving behind his young wife who was then pregnant with the couples' first child.

  If one were to look back and characterize Enoch's military tenure in one word it would have to be "illness." As early as 12/20/64 he was admitted to an army general hospital in Nashville, TN suffering from pneumonia. Returned to his unit six days later, he remained on duty until February 20/21, '65 when an army surgeon's order returned him to the Nashville hospital with bronchitis. Private Sanderlin would never return his company and regiment. His medical condition having not improved, on 3/24/65 he was furloughed home to Crestline to recuperate.  During that furlough, perhaps because his condition did not improve and he did not return and report for duty, he was listed as having deserted.  That charge, however, was quickly changed when his furlough was extended an additional thirty days and, according to his telling, another thirty days after that. That extension ended; on May 29^th he was admitted to the barracks hospital in Columbus, Ohio suffering from diarrhea.  One day later he was transferred to a second Columbus hospital where, on 6/7/65, the War having ended, he was mustered out of the army and discharged to return home. Financial matters to be settled at the time  included receipt of monthly pay since his date of enrollment, his clothing account which had never been settled and from which the value of clothing drawn had been $49.20, and receipt of 66 2/3 dollars of his bounty. Pay stoppages at time of separation included $3.80 for transportation as well as the cost of a haversack, knapsack, canteen and one pair of gauntlet straps which were not returned to the government.  

  With accounts settled, former Civil War soldier Enoch Sanderlin journeyed home to Crestline, Crawford County, OH to his wife and new child. As previously noted, two additional children would grace the Sanderlin household before the end of the decade of the '60s.  One of those, Ellen (b. 1/23/67) apparently did not live long as she was not noted in Monroe, Henry County, Ohio census of 1870. At the time of that census Enoch's occupation was noted as: carpenter.

  As of mid, 1868 Enoch was still being treated by for chronic diarrhea, a condition which one physician described as having "become fixed and incurable. Later, as we shall learn, another medico would disagree with this diagnosis. Medical problems continued to plague him into the mid-1870s as he was reportedly treated by "malarial disturbance and ....for bilious trouble."

  On 12/6/76, in Marion, Henry County, Ohio, Enoch applied for a U.S. Government disability pension based on illnesses which he traced back to his days of Civil War soldiering.  At the time he, and former comrades affidavited on his behalf, began to shed more light on what had befallen him in wartime Tennessee. According to one  document, he "claims that on or about 12/15/64 at Nashville, TN (he) contacted a severe cold from exposure (to a storm) while in charge of rebel prisoners being taken from Nashville....to Louisville, KY.  (The cold) settled in his lungs and also severely affected his liver the (result) of which he became jaundiced....and (afterwards) developed a severe form of diarrhea from which he has never recovered." The testimony continued, "sometime in early January '65 (he) was sent to the post hospital situated east of the Zollicofer (Felix Zollicofer was a Confederate brigadier general killed in 1862) house in Nashville and was there treated.....until March when he was sent home on furlough which was twice extended thirty days... (He) then reported to (a major) at Columbus, Ohio and was sent to (another) hospital (where) he remained until discharged. Enoch's address at the time the above statement was made was listed as being Hamler, Henry County, OH.  His occupation was noted as: “farmer."

  During this same December month of 1876 Enoch was medically examined by a physician who did not deem his claim of chronic diarrhea to be the basis for a legitimate disability preventing him from performing manual labor such as logging, etc. as this was the first time the doctor had ever heard of such a condition. Another physician - a woman, no less - who had known and treated the Sanderlin family for four years stated chronic diarrhea almost totally prevented Enoch from performing manual labor.

  In early 1877, February 21^st to be exact, in Hamler, Henry County, Ohio Enoch supplied more specifics on his becoming ill while in the service of his county by stating, “First treatment I received in the U.S. Army was for a severe cold which seated on my lungs and liver.  I was treated for a few days in (the) camp hospital and then was taken to the post hospital where I remained about a week or 10 days before being sent back to the regiment for the reason that the hospital was crowded with sick. After reaching my regiment I was treated for jaundice.  I did not remain there but a few days until they sent me back to the same hospital again where the (something) ran into inflammation of the stomach and bowels and diarrhea.  I was (initially) taken sick on our about the 15^th day of December, 1864 and remained in the same hospital 'til March 24, 1865 when I was sent on a furlough of general disability.  The (Nashville) hospital where I was treated was a large two story brick church situated on the hill east of the old  Zollicofer house which was used for drafted men’s quarters at the time.  I was treated in the lower story of the hospital."  

  At the time of the next census, which was in 1880, the Sanderlins were in Marion, Henry County, Ohio with Enoch employed as a farmer.  Under his roof at the time, besides wife Sarah, were children Amanda/"manda” John, Rose/Rosa and Otto. Not long thereafter - sometime in the calendar year 1882 - the Sanderlins reportedly quitted Ohio (where they had resided in Crawford and Henry county’s) to remove to Michigan.  In that state settlement appears to have been in Lakefield, Lakefield Township, Luce County.  It was there the Veterans Schedule of 1890 found Enoch (with middle initial H ?) claiming suffering from chronic diarrhea. A decade later, the family was still farming in Lakefield. At that time Sarah reported having been married once and having borne seven children, five of whom were still living. Also in the home was son John who was not married and noted as being a farmer.

  In 1910, the Sanderlin residential location was the same as in 1900 - Lakefield, MI.  In the home were Enoch, Sarah (who by this time noted that only four of her children were living) and son John.

  According available documentation Sarah (nee Vincent) Sanderlin died in McMillan, Luce County, Michigan on 11/30/13. As per family lore per death date was December 1^st.  Details of her passing are not available.

  After the loss of his wife Enoch remained in Lakefield, Luce County, Michigan.  The census of 1920 found the aging vet there noting him as being a "general farmer."  In the home were a son John, his wife and children ranging in age from nine to two years.

  By 1922 Enoch's health was beginning to rapidly fail.  A physical examination conducted in April of that year noted that the resident of Lakefield Township had eyesight so poor that he was "almost entirely unable to see in mid-day. (Further he) is helpless at night.  His heart is very weak and almost every day he has a sinking spell. He requires the constant attendance of some person to help him in waking and keep watch over him.  He requires constant help in dressing and eating meals." Despite these frailties, Enoch's occupation was still noted as "farmer" and he was able to sign his own name to the preceding document.

  1930 found Enoch not in Michigan, but in Tulalip, Snohomish County, Washington near the community of Marysville. His residence at the time was that of daughter Amanda/"Manda" and her husband, Stephen Terry.  As of that year Enoch was ninety one years of age.

  Former Civil War soldier Enoch W. Sanderlin died in Marysville, Snohomish County, Washington on July 3, 1934. Cause of death was reported to be chronic myocarditis. Burial was in the Marysville Community Cemetery.  While he had some years earlier been granted a government disability pension, the onset of and amount of that monthly stipend at the time of his death is now documented.

  After his father-in-law's death, Stephen petitioned the U.S. Government for funeral cost, burial costs and his boarding bill for the previous two years. Whether or not the request for funds was grand is not known.  

Buried at Marysville Cemetery
Row: 82
Site: 1